The present invention relates to hinges for an opening door or window frame, of the type comprising one first and at least one second knuckle parts, each provided with a leaf for fixing it to the movable frame and to the fixed frame, respectively, of the door or window; a pin which connects the first and second knuckle parts together such that they can rotate; and first and second means of adjustment between the first and second knuckle parts parallel to and at right angles to, respectively, the general plane of the door or window.
Such hinges are currently used in a multitude of applications, including those with relatively heavy doors with frames consisting of metal sections. In this as in other similar applications, the process of adjusting the first and second knuckle parts of the hinges of the door or window, in other words between the movable frame and the fixed frame, must be able to be carried out with the greatest possible precision in order that when the door or window is closed, the movable frame of the door or window sits precisely in the fixed frame.
The particular purpose of adjustment in a direction at right angles to the general plane of the door or window is to adjust the compression of the seal with which one of the two frames is normally provided in order to achieve the ideal amount of compression and so ensure that external agents cannot enter.
The function of adjustment in a direction parallel to the general plane of the door or window, however, is to adjust the gap between the movable and fixed frames along their respective hinged uprights, in order to compensate for any structural imperfections or errors of assembly when the door or window is installed.
A fundamental requirement of the abovementioned means of adjustment is that as far as possible they should be able to be operated easily and quickly. These objectives are not fully achieved in currently known solutions, particularly as regards the adjustment of the gap between the movable and fixed frames.
Document EP-A-0,467,122 in the name of Dr Hahn GmbH provides for the use of two eccentric sleeves inserted one inside the other in the cavity of one of the two knuckle parts, by means of which sleeves it is possible, after making an adjustment in one of the two directions, to eliminate the error of adjustment thus introduced in the other direction.
This solution, besides requiring that the installer perform operations which are far from easy, has the effect of limiting the effects of the adjustment of the door or window gap because the amount of adjustment possible in the plane parallel to the general plane of the door or window is small, or at any rate of fixed size.
A much more efficient solution from this point of view has been proposed by the applicant in its own Italian utility model application No. T097U000055, corresponding to international patent application No. WO 84/41720, according to which the first and second means of adjustment are independent of each other, the first being functionally connected to the abovementioned first knuckle part and the second to the abovementioned second knuckle part of the hinge. The first means of adjustment according to this known solution involve an arrangement such that the pin is inserted loosely into a cavity of elongate section in the first knuckle part and can be moved in a diametrical direction within this cavity by means of one or more, advantageously a pair of, opposing set screws, either of which, or both simultaneously, can be adjusted with an external driving tool.
Though much more practical and functional than the solution mentioned previously as regards the ease and speed with which the adjustment can be performed, this solution is nonetheless relatively costly.
From EP-A-0837206 a hinge for swingingly supporting a door leaf from a door frame is known, wherein the first means of adjustment include a cam integral with the pin of the hinge and engaged rotatably inside a cavity in the abovementioned first knuckle part. The cam is formed by an eccentric section of the pin bearing a retainer resilient member having an indented edge designed to cooperate with corresponding indentations provided in the inner wall of the cavity of the first knuckle part.
By this arrangement adjustment is carried out in a stepwise and thus not in a continuous manner, and moreover stability of the adjusted position in the installed condition may be jeopardized owing to any plays or yelding or breakage of the retainer resilient member.
The object of the present invention is to provide a hinge for an opening door or window frame of the type defined above, configured in such a way as to ensure the greatest possible simplicity, efficiency and speed of adjustment of the movable frame with respect to the fixed frame, which hinge must be satisfactorily simple and inexpensive to produce and, especially as regards adjustment in a direction parallel to the general plane of the door or window, such as to ensure the greatest possible stability when installed.
One particular object of the invention is to provide a hinge for an opening door or window frame of the type defined above that will enable simple adjustment in a direction parallel to the general plane of the door or window directly on site, and without undesirable effects of any kind on the adjustment at right angles to the general plane of the door or window which can generally be carried out at a preliminary stage prior to the fitting to the door or window.
According to the invention this object is achieved by virtue of the features set forth in claim 1.
Additional advantageous features of the invention are defined in claims 2-8.